Nineteenth Century Normal Mathematics 

Resources for History of Mathematics at State Normal School, Geneseo, NY

Gathered by Jeff Johannes

Old Main

State Normal School, 1875

Waterbury

Reuben Addison Waterbury, first mathematics professor and vice principal

1888 Circular of the State Normal and Training School (including details of the course curriculum).

1876 textbook used by Waterbury in the first course, Arithmetic:  Horatio Robinson's The progressive higher arithmetic:  for schools, academics, and mercantile colleges.  

Regents exams for New York State:

Arithmetic, June 1887
Algebra, June 1887
Plane Geometry, June 1887
Solid Geometry, June 1887
Plane Trigonometry, June 1887
Higher Algebra, June 1887
an index for more.

Contemporary curriculum at Alfred University, where Waterbury earned his A. B. and M. A. (and which awarded his honourary Ph.D.).

Newspaper letter from Waterbury concerning an unknown scandal that ended his time in Geneseo in 1895.

William J. Milne photo

William J. Milne, first principal

Textbooks:
 
*The practical arithmetic on the inductive plan including oral and written exercises (1878)
First lessons in arithmetic on the inductive plan including oral and written exercises (1878)
*The inductive algebra: embracing a complete course for schools and academies (1881)
An elementary arithmetic on the inductive plan including oral and written exercises (1882)
*High school algebra: embracing a complete course for high schools and academies (1892)
Elements of arithmetic for primary and intermediate classes in public and private schools (1893)
Elements of algebra: a course for grammar schools and beginners in public and private schools (1894)
*Standard arithmetic: embracing a complete course for schools and academies (1895)
*A mental arithmetic (1897)
*Plane and solid geometry (1899)
Grammar school algebra:  a course for grammar schools and beginners in public and private schools (1899)
Intermediate arithmetic (1900)
Academic algebra (1901)
Advanced algebra for colleges and schools(1902)
*Progressive arithmetic - first, second, and third books (1906)
Standard algebra (1908)
Milne's New York state arithmetic (1914)
Milne's second course in algebra (1915)

Other resources:

The Teaching and History of Mathematics in the United States, Florian Cajori, Government Printing Office, 1890.

SUNY Geneseo, from Normal School to Public Ivy, 1871-2007, Wayne Mahmoud et al, The Donning Company, Virginia Beach, 2008.

Centennial History of the State University College of Arts and Science at Geneseo, New York . . . the stone strength of the past. . . . , Rosalind R. Fisher, Wm. J. Keller, Inc, 1971.

Nineteenth-Century Normal Schools in the United States:  a Fresh Look, Jurgen Herbst, Journal of the History of Education Society, Volume 9, 1980, No. 3, 218-227.


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